“During one of my several long and laborious lectures at university, a lecturer quoted Baum’s The Wonderful Wizard of Oz: “There is no place like home“. He did relate that to post-colonialist literary theories, but that quote struck me as being something a little more important than just literature (which is quite surprising!).I think wherever one person goes, the Latin phrase “eadem mutata resurgo” remains true - “I rise again changed but the same“. Education definitely moulds people into future academics, but we will always be true to where we belong.

I believe that I was not only brought up at home, but also at The British School – a community that cared for me so dearly for 15 years of my life. The school taught me how to love learning and to love others. It taught me my greatest passion in life, something that drives me every day: theatre. I can now sing, dance, act and play an instrument because of my involvement with the theatre and music departments. It taught me how to be honest, caring and humble.

I was also brought up at the school to speak up when I felt there was no other voice being heard, especially with the Model United Nations programme. The school gave me strength to face my fears and gave me powers to overcome them. I tried things I would never have dared before in my life, such as the Duke of Edinburgh programme, and made friends during these expeditions that I speak to until this very day.

Mr Peter McLauchlan, his son Christopher and his grandson Michael, three generations of The British School students since 1925.

And as tears run down my face as I remember all the good times I spent with my friends and teachers at the British School whilst writing this letter, I would just like to thank you. Thank you for making all my wildest dreams possible. I owe so much to you, perhaps in everything and every way possible. I just feel I have become the person I am because of you and the school I so adore – the place I love to call home. Thank you.”

In May 2011 we heard from Mrs Fátima Fritsch, that her daughter Laura Fritsch’2010 had finally made her choice.

After applying to the 11 universities listed below, all in the USA, and getting accepted to all of them, it was not easy to decide where to go. They had the chance to visit a few of the universities at the beginning of the year and Laura has decided that she will join Columbia College (at Columbia University, New York), for a double major in Architecture and Visual Arts.

US Colleges, all of whom accepted Laura:

1. UCLA (University of California Los Angeles),

2. USC (University of South California),

3. UC Berkeley, (University of California at Berkeley),

4. UChicago (University of Chicago),

5. Brown University,

6. Duke University,

7. NYU (New York University),

8. Boston College,

9. UPenn (University of Pennsylvania),

10. Barnard College (at Columbia University).

11. Columbia College (at Columbia University).

The British School, Rio de Janeiro is very proud of Laura’s achievements and wishes her success and happiness in this new phase of life.

Michael will be going to Durham University in September to study English. For this first term of 2011, Michael has been working at The British School, Urca Site, assisting teachers in the Drama Department. Thank you for your continuous support Michael!

Stephanie Whyte’2010 has been accepted at every university she applied for, and for the major she requested:

University of Southern California – Roski School of Art (and minor in Biology)
CalArts – Visual Arts – with a Resnick Family Foundation Scholarship
University of California – Santa Barbara – College of Creative Studies (minor Aquatic Biology)
University of California – San Diego
University of California – Santa Cruz
University of California – Davis
James Cook University in Queensland Australia (Biology major)

Her mother wrote to us in April, when Stephanie had not yet decided where she would go. In Mrs Whyte’s own words: “Can’t thank you all enough for the fantastic education at TBS, excellent preparation that got her great IB and SAT scores and guidance through the maze of university requests, references and applications.”

Congratulations to the Whyte family for the superb results and accomplishments!